How do you carry yourself? What do others think of you when you walk into a room? You do it. You judge someone by the way they look, talk, and walk. Even when you see someone from far away, you make assumptions about them by the way they dress and the way they carry themselves.
How you walk plays a big part in being selected as a victim or not. The first thing most bad guys see is what you are doing and holding while you are walking. Are you looking at your phone walking around public places? If you are texting, reading, playing games, or even just using your phone as a phone, stop it. I admit I have been doing it a lot lately and don’t know why.
When you are looking at your phone, you are missing the world around you. If you have to take a call, read a text, or just check Facebook, plan your phone time and location with your security in mind. Just take a quick look around for a spot that you can’t be approached from all side. A corner that doesn’t have anything someone will be trying to get works well. Don’t stand in the corner like a dunce, put your back to the wall and look out. Once you take your position, and before you read your phone, look around one more time for dangers. Then answer the phone, read the text, or check Facebook. Then stop every 10 to 20 seconds and look around again.
If you are carrying a lot of junk, stop it and get a bag or cart to help you out. Or even make two trips. Where ever you are going to and from, if you have a lot of stuff in your hands, you look like bait. Stop it. Plan what you will have in your hands. I know it’s a giveaway for a professional when I carry 5 bags on my left side and nothing on my right except maybe my keys. When a pro sees that, he assumes you are armed. If a bad guy sees that and recognizes the reason for it, he is less likely to mess with you. If you are carrying too much stuff, you just can’t be as attentive to the world around you as you should be.
What pace do you walk at? Do you look like you know where you are going and that you have someplace to be? Criminals want easy victims. Victims that aren’t paying attention and that they can sneak up on easily. When you walk fast it requires work to keep up with you and it is really hard to blend in or disappear. When you walk fast it makes it really obvious when someone is trying to catch up with you or keep up with you. I used this trick for years working for an armored car company carrying lots of money. When someone was trying to pace me, they stuck out like a sore thumb. Bad guys know this and will generally pick an easier target.
If you look like you have someplace to be and you know where you are going, the bad guy is more likely to leave you alone. Again, they don’t want people that will recognize them before, during, or after the assault. And if they want to take time to do their attack, they don’t want someone to come looking for you. Walk quickly, like you have a purpose in life and it will help you look tougher.
How you walk gives an air of who you are and what you do. Look at how a cop walks. Most of them have a very distinctive walk. Look at how a Marine in uniform walks. They have an even more distinct walk. Open your shoulders, stand up straight, walk with confidence, and walk around like you belong there and this is your area. With confidence in your walk, you look like you have confidence in your life and what you do. No bad guy wants to mess with someone that is going to beat them, they want someone that can hardly walk on their own, not someone that walks around like they own the world and they belong there.
Do you look around while you walk? Not only does this help you see bad guys and avoid things like cars running you over, you get to see things that you might have missed. A crazy flower growing out of the sidewalk, a member of the opposite sex looking at you, or a beautiful natural scene just beyond the parking lot. Looking around as you go places will make you safer, make it look like you know what’s going on, and let you enjoy the world more.
To be safer and have a better life while out and about lift up your head, look around, walk bristly like you know where you are going and have some place to be. It will make you safer and your life better.
Stay Safe,
Ben
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